The following disclosure is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-249347, filed on Aug. 20, 2001, which is incorporated into this application by reference.
The invention relates to a film transfer apparatus adapted to transfer a correction film or a film of paste, which is attached to a transfer tape fed from a feed reel, onto a surface of a sheet by gripping the apparatus and moving the same rearward while pressing the same against the surface of the sheet.
Known film transfer apparatuses include a type which is capable of replacing a transfer tape with another, besides throw-away type film transfer apparatuses.
The former type of film transfer apparatuses include a type in which a cartridge formed of a flanged case member holding a transfer tape therein is replaced with another similar cartridge, and a non-cartridge type film transfer apparatus in which a transfer tape as well as a feed reel and some other parts are replaced with another transfer tape and a set of similar parts.
However, in any of these replaceable type film transfer apparatuses, a part not to be replaced, for example, a feed gear may fall from an apparatus body during a transfer tape replacement operation, so that the replacement of a transfer film takes much time in not a few cases.
Especially, in a non-cartridge type film transfer apparatus, a part not to be replaced is liable to fall off, and it was necessary that a careful attention is paid to a tape replacement operation.
In a film transfer apparatus of the type in which a cartridge formed of a flanged case member holding a transfer tape therein is replaced with another, the cost of forming the flanged cartridge-holding case member in addition to an apparatus body is high.
An object of the present invention is to provide a film transfer apparatus adapted to prevent parts not to be replaced from falling from an apparatus body during a transfer tape replacement operation. Another object of the present invention is to provide a film transfer apparatus adapted to carry out a transfer tape replacement operation more easily. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a film transfer apparatus which can be manufactured at low costs having a pair of case members which form an apparatus body, and a cartridge.
These and other objects are solved in accordance with the present invention by a film transfer apparatus which has a lower end-opened apparatus body formed by combining in one body in a separable condition a pair of case members with the opened sides thereof opposed to each other, a feed reel and a take-up reel provided in the apparatus body, a transfer head projecting outward from the lower opening, and a transfer tape wound around the feed reel, and adapted to be fed, reversed at a tip of the transfer head and taken up around the take-up reel, said apparatus including a feed gear and a take-up gear provided coaxially with the feed reel and take-up reel respectively and meshing with each other, an intermediate connecting member carrying a cylindrical portion, a boss of the feed gear fitted around the cylindrical portion of the connecting member in such a pressure contacting state that it enables torque to be transmitted between the intermediate connecting member and feed gear, and the boss to have a sliding function with respect to a load of a level not lower than a required level, a support shaft carrying a locking portion and provided on an inner surface of one of the two case members which form an apparatus body on which support shaft the intermediate connecting member is supported by rotatably engaging the connecting member with the support shaft by utilizing the locking portion of the latter, and a diametrically enlarged portion, the diameter of which is larger than that of the boss, provided on an outer circumference of the cylindrical portion of the intermediate connecting member so that the feed reel can be engaged with the cylindrical portion by fitting the feed reel therearound by utilizing the diametrically enlarged portion.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the intermediate connecting member can have a double cylindrical portion formed of an inner cylinder and an outer cylinder joined together at one end of each thereof and opened at the other end of each thereof, the boss of the feed gear being fitted in a pressure contacting state around the inner cylinder from the opening thereof, locking ribs being provided on an outer circumferential surface of the outer cylinder, the feed reel provided with locking ribs on an inner circumferential surface thereof being fitted around the outer cylinder with the locking ribs of these two parts engaged with one another.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the boss of the feed gear can be provided with a suitable number of slits, projections being provided on the portions of an inner circumferential surface of the boss which are among the slits, these projections being elastically engaged with the outer circumferential surface of the inner cylinder of the intermediate connecting member.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the case member which is other than the case member provided with the support shaft which supports the intermediate connecting member is provided on an inner surface thereof with a support shaft which supports the feed reel and take-up reel rotably and directly or indirectly, and which engages these reels with each other.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, the feed gear and take-up gear are transposed.